Rendering of Design Proposal 1 for the new Tappan Zee Bridge, NY, estimated to cost $3.142 billion. (New York State Thruway Authority)

A selection committee has recommended a futuristic design for the new Tappan Zee Bridge, with suspension supports leaning outwards, giving the bridge the look of a stripped-down building by Santiago Calatrava.

Calatrava has designed the World Trade Center transit hub, the Milwaukee Museum of Art, and the Athens Olympic stadium.

The New York State Thruway Authority — the agency in charge of the project — will consider the design, along with two others, for a new Tappan Zee Bridge. The three designs were released(PDF) at Governor Cuomo’s cabinet meeting Wednesday.

The designs range from $3.142 billion to $4.059 billion when all estimated costs are totaled. All three proposals are being called “transit ready,” though images of the bridge being recommended don’t show buses or transit on the roadway.

Details of how the proposals will be financed still haven’t been released. Governor Cuomo said both the bridge’s full cost and the amount of federal financing (still unknown) would have to be tallied before a bridge financing plan could be released.

The three designs will be considered December 17th by the Thruway Authority board.

The state had said the bridge would cost $5.2 billion, but had been hoping the cost would be adjusted downward — in part to lower future tolls on drivers.

For more on why the bridge matters nationally, and the planning process to date, see our previous coverage.

More soon on the design details.

Design Proposal 1, seen in daytime, for the new Tappan Zee Bridge. (New York Thruway Authority)

NY has too much money lying around. They dont know what to do with it all, so theyve decided to rebuild the Tappan Zee.

According to wikipedia it's 55 years old.It's also a very heavily traveled bridge,heavily traveled by trucks,buses and cars.I'm no engineer but one might suspect that such a structure would reach the point,over time,when replacement made more sense than repair.

10
posted on 12/07/2012 7:44:29 PM PST
by Gay State Conservative
(Benghazi: What Did Baraq Know And When Did He Know It?)

Every Christmas and Easter we used to drive from upstate to visit my Dad’s folks in Thornwood and my Aunt, Uncle and cousins in Stamford, CT. I can still hear dad from 1955 onward as we drove across the Tappan Zee — “look kids, you can see the Empire State Building today.” Dad was like Old Faithful...we could always count on him to tell us to look for the ESB off in the distance. Funny how little things like that stick with you throughout life.

Growing up I always thought the Old Dutch names near NYC were great and I especially liked “Tappan Zee.” It just rolls off your tongue. The Iroquois names across upstate are really cool, too.

It’s a such a shame that the NYC libs worked to destroy the state over the past 60 years. Now I live in CA where the SF/LA/Sac lib axis has worked feverishly to destroy CA, too, over the past 30 years.

Looks good for a 15 dollar plus ride across it! The GW bridge and some others are now 14 dollars to cross. A rig with a few axes can cost up to 75 dollars or more to cross. Where’s all the money going? Education? how much more money do we need for education when the kids are getting dumber and thier propaganda agenda is progressing nicely. oops did I say that?

I only went over the new bridge a few times before we moved.
My mom hated it, so would go the long way to avoid it if she was driving.

We had used the old bridge just hours before the accident. And used the remaining bridge several times a year. The first few times we were not allowed to talk and had to roll down the windows. The no talking rule was also in place if the weather was bad.

I still hate crossing bridges if they are long and are over deep water.

49
posted on 12/08/2012 8:12:55 AM PST
by CARDINALRULES
(Tough times never last -Tough people do. DK57 -- 6-22-02)

1. Structural corrosion. Engineers are wondering when a section of bridge deck might go.
2. The footings on the west end of the bridge are, shall we say, suboptimal. As in sitting on river silt, no pilings to bedrock. To get pilings to bedrock on that side, they would have to go deep. And this is causing problems that have been noticable of late.

50
posted on 12/08/2012 5:08:13 PM PST
by Fred Hayek
(The Democratic Party is the operational wing of CPUSA.)

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